Former Enterprise Square director passes away

The OC community mourns the loss of Bob Rowland, who served the university from 1971 to 1990.

Rowland was president of OC’s American Citizenship Center, then served as executive director of Enterprise Square USA.

“I was conducting Freedom Forums and seminars in a five-state area, and I would reach maybe 5,000 students and teachers a year,” Rowland once said. “I thought, ‘What if you built yourself a museum of some kind, an educational attraction that would attract that many or more each month, year round?’”

The vision became reality in 1982, when Enterprise Square opened, offering economic education and history in a unique venue located on campus.

Although he retired in 1990, Rowland would look back at the impact of Enterprise Square on economic education with a special pride. When educators brought classes to the center, students often were tested before and after their visit.

“We would see those scores jump from a 25 to 30 percentile average to a 65 to 70 percentile, doubling their scores nearly every time,” he said. “That was a great source of satisfaction.”

In 2008, the Rowland Endowed Scholarship Fund was established at Oklahoma Christian to assist students from the northwest pursuing a Christian education.

Prior to coming to OC, Rowland served as president of Columbia Christian College in Portland, Oregon, from 1959 to 1968. He also served as Columbia’s dean from 1957 to 1959.

Rowland was born in Oklahoma and grew up in California. In addition to his work with Columbia and Oklahoma Christian, he served the Lord in mission work in Alaska, helping to establish congregations in Juneau and Sitka. He also served as an elder at Quail Springs Church of Christ in Oklahoma City.